The class meeting lasted for 40 minutes. The principal came over personally and spent half an hour standing on the podium praising Jiang Qiaoxi. The last ten minutes were used to encourage all the students in Class 18 to learn more from Jiang Qiaoxi.
Lin Qile listened while lowering her head to do her English homework. Her deskmate was a boy wearing glasses named Huang Zhanjie. Huang Zhanjie was painting Rei Ayanami's mysterious smile on his homework book. He whispered to her that the principal of the experimental school had two darlings, one was the statue of Confucius passed down from generation to generation at the school gate, and the other was Jiang Qiaoxi. "Our principal has been looking forward to Jiang Qiaoxi coming to the experimental school to study in high school since he was in elementary school!"
Jiang Qiaoxi was praised for half an hour, but he didn't react much. He was doing his homework in the last row, occasionally opening his water cup to drink water. When he looked up, he immediately caught the small movement of Lin Qile turning his head in front of him.
Jiang Qiaoxi stared at her back, at Lin Qile's combed hair, and at the white shirt collar with a strawberry pattern underneath her school uniform.
He put down the cup and continued to do the problem.
On the bus home from school, Lin Qile sat by the window. She sometimes stared out the window in a daze, and sometimes lowered her head to look at the water card with the little white rabbit sticker in her hand.
Dushan sat next to her and asked, "Cherry, why do you keep looking at the water card?"
Cai Fangyuan said from the front row: "Lin Yingtao, why haven't you paid me for that book of yours?"
Lin Yingtao raised her head and said, "My water card is almost out of money."
She suddenly pulled the collars of Cai Fangyuan and Yu Qiao in the front row and said, "Go and refill my water card tomorrow!"
Electrician Lin got off work early today. He took a stroll around the nearby vegetable market, bought a big carp, and went home to cook a steaming hot dish: sweet and sour carp.
As soon as Lin Yingtao came home, she exclaimed loudly.
"Dad!" She put down her schoolbag and asked, "How to make sweet and sour carp!"
Electrician Lin poured himself some wine, while his mother was still steaming jujube buns in the kitchen. Electrician Lin looked down at his feet happily, and saw the kitten walking around the corner of the table. He said, "If you want to eat it, just make it!"
Manager Jiang Zheng stood in the kitchen, turned on the range hood, and smoked half a cigarette, but the smell of smoke still lingered in the kitchen for a long time.
He was in a good mood today when he received a call from the principal of the experimental school, saying that Jiang Qiaoxi had ranked first in the province in the rematch. Jiang Zheng was in the office at the time and called a nearby hotel to order a table of food to be delivered to his home.
He originally wanted to wait for Jiang Qiaoxi to come home, so that the two of them could sit down together, face to face, have a meal, and talk a few words.
As a result, he waited and waited, but it was already half past seven and the person still hadn't come back.
It was only after I called Liang Hongfei that I found out that on a day like today, Jiang Qiaoxi actually had to go to the competition class and training.
"Winter camp and the national finals are in November. Do you still have time to celebrate?" Liang Hongfei questioned him in return.
At around nine o'clock in the evening, Jiang Qiaoxi came back from the competition class. He carried his square schoolbag and went home without saying a word. He lowered his head to change his shoes and walked to his bedroom. Jiang Zheng sat on the sofa in the living room, smoking a cigarette, and looked at him.
Soon, Liang Hongfei also came in. She was holding the car keys and saw the table full of cold dishes.
Both husband and wife had gloomy faces.
Jiang Zheng said generously: "Today is a good day, I won't argue with you."
Liang Hongfei said, "If it weren't for Qiaoxi, do you think I would be willing to live with you?"
When Jiang Qiaoxi was a child, he would stand aside and watch them quarrel in a daze. But now Jiang Qiaoxi has grown up. He seems to care nothing about these disputes or anything in this "family". Even after joining the provincial team, Jiang Qiaoxi doesn't have much to say to them.
Liang Hongfei knocked on the door from outside: "Qiaoxi?"
Jiang Qiaoxi sat in his study, his schoolbag spread out on the table. He just sat there idly.
The door still opened.
Liang Hongfei asked from behind: "Qiaoxi, are you hungry? Mommy will make you some midnight snack?"
Jiang Qiaoxi listened to her unusually gentle tone and shook his head.
He opened the drawer and took out a lighter.
Jiang Qiaoxi was not sure whether the occasional tenderness from his mother and father was for him.
His brother, Jiang Mengchu, whom he had never met, died at the age of thirteen, no matter how talented he was. Jiang Mengchu had no chance to participate in the national league, nor did he have the chance to be admitted to the provincial team. At present, Jiang Qiaoxi was walking step by step on the path that Jiang Mengchu had never walked.
209 points. Even if Jiang Mengchu were alive, he would not necessarily do better than Jiang Qiaoxi.
Liang Hongfei closed the door. Jiang Qiaoxi took his schoolbag off the table, turned on the desk lamp, and sat in the light for a while.
He watched the light shine on the back of his hand.
A small piece of white, like a little rabbit's furry ears.
"Congratulations." Lin Yingtao stood beside him, not looking at him, and whispered this. Lin Yingtao carried her schoolbag and went home from school. When she walked, her combed hair moved a little, and she still looked very restless.
Jiang Qiaoxi took out a key from his schoolbag and opened the locked drawer in the middle of his desk.
Jiang Qiaoxi,
I am Lin Qile.
The little rabbit died. Do you remember it? It was four years old.
The light from the desk lamp made the old letter paper turn yellow, and the stars, moon, Coke cans and black watches outlined with watercolor pens also faded.
Jiang Qiaoxi narrowed his eyes. Actually, he didn’t like smoking. Every time the smoke came out, it always hurt his eyes.
Don't you miss me? Why don't you ever call me? Cai Fangyuan said you've become different in the provincial capital. What has become of you
Jiang Qiaoxi looked at the crooked words and the ugly childish drawings on the small piece of paper.
Do you still remember Jiang Yulu
If you forget, look at her to remember.
When will you reply to me
Lin Qile
Seven households in row 24 of the Qunshan construction site
October 14, 2003
Lin Qile arrived at the class early the next morning, and morning reading was about to begin. She forced Cai Fangyuan to accompany her to refill her water card, and the two of them ran all the way and almost got late.
Huang Zhanjie, the classmate at the same table, had already opened his book. When he saw her coming, he stood up and said, "Hey, Lin Qile—"
Lin Yingtao was about to go to her seat when she suddenly noticed a water cup on her desk.
The cup is all black, with a line of Eisenhower's English quotations printed on it, like a prize for some competition.
Most of the students who were studying looked up to see Lin Qile's reaction.
Huang Zhanjie said, "Jiang Qiaoxi went to the Little White Building to study. He just told me that he asked you to come and get him a glass of water."
Lin Qile asked in astonishment: "What?"
Huang Zhanjie raised his voice so that the whole class could hear him: "Jiang Qiaoxi asked you to pour him a glass of water!"
Lin Qile sat back in her seat, holding her schoolbag in her arms, and stared at the scary water cup on the table.
Suddenly, something touched Lin Qile's shoulder from behind. "Yeah." Yu Qiao called her.
Yu Qiao was concentrating on reading Sports Weekly and touched his water cup against Lin Qile's shoulder.
During the morning reading, Lin Qile stood in front of the water dispenser to get water, holding a bunch of empty cups in her arms. Du Shang happened to come out from the door of Class 15, also holding a cup.
"Cherry, where did you get so many water cups?" Duchamp walked over and asked.
Lin Qile gave him an unhappy look. Du Shang said, "How about I go to the store downstairs and steal a basket for you."
Cen Xiaoman was studying in the classroom, and she kept looking up and looking towards the back door of the classroom intentionally or unintentionally.
Lin Qile walked back to the classroom. She placed the full cups of water on the desks of Cai Fangyuan and Yu Qiao in turn. She also got a cup for Huang Zhanjie. Huang Zhanjie stood up and let her in, thanking her happily.
Lin Qile also placed the black cup of water on the corner of Huang Zhanjie's desk, then let go of his hand and didn't dare to touch it again.
Jiang Qiaoxi came back before the first English class. He rarely entered the classroom through the front door, and he seemed to be elusive. Students who participated in competitions always had a very special life trajectory. Feilinger followed him in and saw Jiang Qiaoxi pass the podium and somehow stop by Lin Qile's desk.
Huang Zhanjie looked up at the top student with an adoring smile and said, "Jiang Qiaoxi, here you go, your water cup."
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his eyes and looked at Lin Qile, only to see the latter sitting inside, covering his ears and muttering English.
The students around were all looking over here, whispering to each other, even Cen Xiaoman was staring at them. Jiang Qiaoxi went back to the back, opened his schoolbag, and spread out his English book.
Jiang Qiaoxi drank a glass of water only halfway through the English class.
I don't know who started the earliest rumor: Yu Qiao, the sports committee member of Class 18, and Lin Qile, the boy who chased Jiang Qiaoxi to the same school, were childhood sweethearts. They grew up together since kindergarten, but were caught by their homeroom teacher, Mr. Chen, who told them not to have "premature love."
Of course, there are new rumors mixed in with the old ones.
"Jiang Qiaoxi asked Lin Qile to pour him some water again today. Doesn't he have a water card? Doesn't Felinger have one too?"
"Why does he keep looking for her for no reason? Is he afraid that woman doesn't cling to him enough?"
"I don't think so... Lin Qile loves studying. I feel like... I feel like she seems to be circling around Jiang Qiaoxi all day long, not like what she said before."
In the afternoon, several classes have a physical education class together.
After Lin Qile finished running, she wanted to go to Class 15 to listen to MP3 with Du Shang. But the physical education teacher found her, took her to the track, and asked her to test her 800-meter performance with the girls from several classes.
Many girls were resting on the sidelines. They either had a cold, a stomachache, or felt dizzy. In short, they were not suitable for participating in various sports.
Lin Qile sometimes wonders.
Why doesn't she get sick
No stomachache either.
Why does she rarely suffer from dysmenorrhea and never faint from heatstroke during military training like other pretty girls
According to the pattern of the romance novels she had read recently, she had basically said goodbye to all the romantic scenes on campus.
However, Lin Qile thought.
If someone wants to care about me, he will still care even if I am not sick, have a stomachache, or have low blood sugar.
Duchamp shouted passionately at the side of the runway: "Cherry!! Come on Cherry!!!"
There was the sound of wind in Lin Qile's ears. She ran forward desperately. She ran faster than anyone else, and the taste of rust kept coming out of her throat.
The boys from the track and field team stood on the track, some drinking water, some stretching their legs, and watching the girls run.
Suddenly Lin Qile fell forward and her foot slipped and stepped on an empty mineral water bottle on the ground.
Duchamp exclaimed, "Cherry!"
Lin Qile rolled forward the next second after he fell, and then stood up.
The friends on the men's track and field team were amazed and warm applause broke out in the track.
Yu Qiao checked the timer at the finish line and couldn't help laughing.
Lin Qile was panting, his combed hair was all messy, and he ran to the finish line in a daze.
Dushan ran over holding the water and said, "Cherry, you are amazing! How did you stand up just now?"
Lin Yingtao then realized that she had come in first. Yu Qiao, who was taking notes of the results, said, "That's it. You'll be in the sports meet this year."
“No, I can’t…” Lin Qile felt like she was about to pass out from running.
Turning around, Lin Qile suddenly found that on the opposite side of the track, a group of contestants were walking towards the Little White Building. Jiang Qiaoxi was walking among them, looking at her with a book in his hand.
Lin Qile quickly covered his messy hair with his hands and hid behind Du Shang and Yu Qiao.
The author has something to say: －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Notes to this chapter:
* Rei Ayanami: A virtual character and heroine in the Japanese anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion". Rei Ayanami's greatest personality is the little bit of expression in her almost non-existent expression - the famous Rei Ayanami smile.
＊“Why… why what?”: “Why Sheng Xiao Mo” is a novel by writer Gu Man. It was serialized on Jinjiang Literature City from September 2003 and was first published in January 2006.